Tabget towing and eeleasing device



7 w. A. LAMKEY MarCh 24, 1931. TARGET TOWING AND RELEASING mmcn R,.13,()07

Original Filed March 21. L927 2 Sheets-Sheet l u v W m N INVEN TOR.FV/fl/am Ala/why A TTORNEYSJ w. A. LAMKE Y March TARGET TOWING ANDRELEASING DEVICE Original Filed March 21. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V ENTOR. WW/[am Ala/17kg;

BY w

d M ATTORNEYS.

Reissued Mar. 24, 1931 UNITED STATES WILLIAM A. LAMKEY, OF CLEVELAND,OHIO TARGET TOWING AND RELEASING DEVICE priglnal No. 1,703,400, datedFebruary 26, 1929, Serial No. 177,106, filed March 21, 1927, and inFrance January 18, 1927. Application for reissue filed December 9, 1930.Serial No. 501,154.

My invention relates broadly to a means for unfurling and releasing atarget and more particularly to a target that is being towed by anaircraft.

6 Heretofore, when engaging in aircraft target practice with a towedtarget, it has been customary to let out the target so that it wouldopen by unreeling a great many yards of cable, to which the target wasattached 10 and which was carried on a reel by the towing aircraft. Whenthe target had reached the desired distance from the vessel or aircraft,it became unfurled and firing began. After firing had ceased, or thetarget had passed beyond range, it was permitted to fall to earth sothat hits of any particular firing battery could be counted. To drop thetarget, it was necessary to cut the cable and free the target and cablefrom the vessel or aircraft.

In permittin the equipment to fall to earth, care had to e exercisedthat it should fall upon water, as cable of the length necessary forprotection to the aircraft could not be easily handled on land. Afterthe equipment had fallen it was necessary for boats to put out, wind thecable on a reel, and can it to shore to be rewound on another reel. 11the meantime, the aircraft had to return to its base, make a landing,take aboard another target, and again reach the desired altitude. Allthis required considerable time, labor, and expense, and very oftenresulted in the loss of valuable equipment.

Another and more recent method of removing a target from a tow lineafter it had passed the range of a firing battery, has been to reel inthe tow cable and manually remove the target. This very often resultedin break- 0 ing the tow cable, due to the added tension on the cable inreeling in the target.

It is an object ofmy invention to overcome the above inconveniences byproviding a target carrying, unfurling and releasing equipment that maybe automatically replaced at the end of the tow cable by another withoutthe necessity of severing or reeling in the tow cable.

Another object of my invention is to provide a target that will beautomatically unfurled upon its reaching the end of the towing cable.

A still further object of the invention consists in the use of a devicetowed by an aircraft for the display and the exchanging of displays ofadvertising matter while the aircraft is in flight.

With the above andother objects in view,

the invention consists in the combination, cone struction, andarrangement of parts as will be Hereinafter more fully described.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings for-min part of thisspecification, in which like reference characters indicate correspondingparts throughout the several views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing my invention attachedto a towing cable,

Figure 2 is an end view looking in the direction of the arrows 22,

Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line 33 of Figure 1,

Figure 4 is a view of the target harness showing in dot and dash linehow the parts become disassembled to unfurl the target,

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic view of the operation of my invention, and

Figure 6 is a sectional view of the cone and supporting plate attachedto the harness.

In the following description of my inven tion I shall first describe themeans for carrying the target on the tow cable, and its operation, andthen explain the construction and operation of the target unfurlingmechanism.

Referring more particularly to Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the drawings, 5indicates a cable that is wound on a reel carried by an aircraft orother object that has a target in tow. A pin 6 attached to the free end,of the cable is cylindrical in form with a pointed nose 7 and isprovided with collars 8 and 9. The collar 9 is rigidly attached to thepin, While collar 8 is free to rotate and slide therealong, it beingheld removed from collar 9 by an expansion spring 10 positioned betweenthe collars. A suitable stop 11 prevents collar 8 from falling off thepin. The cable passes through the nose of the pin into the bore of intothe stud. One and of the pring 23 is the cylindrical portion where it issecurely fastened by a knot 12, or in an other desired manner. The freeend of t a cable ex tends beyond the pin a short distance to provide ameans for retrieving the cable when it is desired to remove the pin. Thepin serves as a wei ht as the cable is being unreeled to receive t etarget carrying device.

The target carrier, or traveler, consists of a core-shaped body member13 having 8 C811- tralbore l ltherethrough, into which the pin 6 fitswhen the traveler is in operative osition. A slot 15 extendinglengthwise of t e body member communicates with the central borepermitting insertion of the cable into the bore so that the body memberwill ride along the cable. One end of the slot within the nose portion0i the body member is broadened to receive cars 16 attached to the sidesof a trigger 17 providing a sliding fulcrum. for the trigger thatoperates in the slot to serve the two-fold service of preventing thecable from accidently coming through the slot, and of ecuring the. bodymember to. the pin 6.. The

trigger isprovided with a searor in 18 rocking y attached. thereto, andwhich passes through a suitable opening 19 in the body member to engagewith the sliding collar 8 to prevent the. traveler from riding off thepin, Spring 10: cushions the impact of the sear against the collar. Thetrigger isprovided with. an arcuete edge 20, the purpose of which will hlater described, and a recess 21 that aligns with a circumferential EQVQ 22 about the body member. A, spring $3, that is seated in the recessand groove, holds the trigger so that the sear will be in engagementwlt'h the collar when in its normal position. Screw threaded studs 24,are mounted in the sides of the body member, and into one 0.1: these isscrewed an eye-bolt 25,, and out! the other a slip-e e 26 is secured bya fastening element 2 extending attached to the slip-eye and the otherto a washer 28, held in place by the eye-bolt. A bridle 29 is secured tothe eye-bolt and slipeye.

The operation of the release-mechanism is as follows:

The cable 5 is unwound from the reel and allowed to hang over the side,the pin. serving'as a weight top revent the flapping about the cableend. he trigger of the traveler is removed from the slot, the cablepassed therethrough, and the trigger replaced securing the cable in thecentral bore of the traveler. The traveler is then released and slidesalong the cable until the sear on the trigger engages with the loosecollar on the pm. When the traveler reaches the cable and, the target isopened as will be hereinafter described. When it is, desired to releasethe traveler held by the pin, a second traveler is attached to the cablein the same manner as the first one and released. As the conical nose ofthe second traveler engages between the nose of the pin and the arcuateedge of the trigger it forces the trigger outward against the tension ofits retaining spring, disengaging the sear from the collar on the pin.The impact of the replacing traveler knocks the first traveler from thepin, the second one taking its place thereon by virtue of itssearengaging the collar. The target 30 is attached to the bridle 29 b a clewring 31 secured to the target clews 3 see Figure 5. The target harnessis secured to ring 31 by a snap-hook 33. The harness consists of anelastic cable having a grommet 34 intermediate its ends. The elasticcable is connected to the Snap-hook by a ring 35, and its other terminalis provided with a ring 36. A trip plate 37 having a cone member 38swivelled thereon, see Figure 6, is

connected to the ring 36. The cone is prQ- vided with an opening 39therethrough to receive a slip wire 40 that is attached to thesnap-hook.

The target is fur-led, and. secured'in the bight of the elastic cablebetween the tri plate and grommet,'the cone; being placed through thegrommet and held in position by the slip wire passed through the openingin the cone. The target clews are wrapped about the target and made fastto they bridle by the clew ring, and the she .-h ook attached to theclew ring. The trave er carrying the target down the tow cable engageseither the tow pin, or a traveler already in place, and due to theretardation of the traveler, the elastic cable stretches beyond thelength of the slip wire pulling it out of the opening in the cone,freeing the grommet, and thereby releasing the target permitting it tounfurl and flow. The length of the'sli .wire is such that it will beeasily withdrawn $110111 the cone by the expansion of the cable.

My invention may be used not only as a target towing means for aircraftgunnery practice, but may be also used, for advertising purposes. Inthislatter use, a sign advert ising the wares of one merchant may bedisplayed towed in the air and without bringing the aircraft to alanding and within sight of the populace below, the sign ma be droppedand another substituted, as a ove described, to display an advertisementof another m'ercha'nt or to advertise other wares of the same merchant.

It will be understood that the above description and accompanyingdrawings comprehend only the general and preferred embodiment of myinvention and that various minor changes in details of construction,proportion and arrangement of parts may be made within the scope of theappended claims and without sacrificing any of. the advantages of myinvention. 7

Having described my invention what I claim is:

1. In combination a cable having one end attached to a moving body, atarget support comprising a body portion, a fulcrumed member forsecuring the body portion to the cable, a bridle attached to the bodyportion, and a resilient means for attaching the target to the bridle.

2. In combination a cable having one end attached to a moving body, apin attached to the free end of the cable, a target support comprising abody portion having a central bore to receive said pin, a fulcrumedmember for securing the body portion to the pin, a bridle attached tothe body portion, and means for attaching the target to the bridle.

3. In combination with a cable having one end attached to a moving body,a pin attached to the free end-of the cable, collars carried b the pin,one of said collars being movable along the pin, resilient meansseparating the collars, a target support comprising a body portion,means engaging one of the collars for maintaining the body portion inposition on the pin,-a bridle attached to the body portion, and meansfor securing the target to the bridle.

4. In combination a cable having one end attached to a moving body, apin attached to the free end of the cable, a fixed collar and a collarslidable thereon, resilient means separating the collars, a targetsupport comprising a body portion having a central bore to receive thepin, a fulcrum member extending into the bore and engagin the slidablecollar for maintaining the body portion in osition on the pin, a bridleattached to the ody portion, and means for securing the target to thebridle.

5. In combination a cable having one end attached to a moving body, apin attached to the free end of the cable, a fixed and a slidable collaron the pin, means for separating the collars, a target supportcomprising a body portion having a central bore to receive the pin, alongitudinal slot having communication with the bore, a member slidablyfulcrumed within the slot,a rocking sear attached to the fulcrumedmember for engagement with the slidable collar to maintain the bodyportion in position on the pin, a bridle attached to the body portion,and means for attaching the target to the bridle.

6. In combination a cable having-one end attached to a movin body, a pinattached to the free end of the ca le, a fixed and a slidable collar onthe pin, means separatin the collars, a target support comprising a odyportion having a central bore to receive the pin, a slot communicationwith the bore, a member slidably fulcrumed within the slot, a searattached to the said member for engagement with the slidable collar tomaintain the body portion in position on the pin, means for normallyholding the sear in enga ement with the collar, a bridle, and means orattaching the target to .the bridle.

7. In combination a cable having one end attached to a moving body, apin attached to the cable end, a fixed and a slidable collar on the pin,means for separating the collars, a target support comprising acylindrical body portion having a central bore and conical nose, a slotcommunicating with the bore, a slidably fulcrumed member having anarcuate edge operable within the slot, a scar carried by the member forengagement with the slidable collar, means for normally holding the searand collar in engagement, but expandible to permit disengagement of thesaid members upon a body entering between the nose and arcuate edge, abridle attached to the body portion, and means for securing the targetto the bridle.

8. In a target unfurling and releasing device, a body member attachableto a tow line and controllably-detachable therefrom, a resilient targetharness connected to the body member, a ring intermediate its ends, acone attached to the harness end for engagement with the ring forforming a bight in the harness, means for securing the cone within thering, and a target secured in the bight.

9. In a target unfurling and releasing mechanism, a body memberdetachably carried by a tow cable, means for disengaging the member fromthe cable, a target carried by the said member, and means attached tosaid member for unfurling the target, last said means comprising aresilient cable, a grommet, a cone member insertable through thegrommet, and a member engaging the cone to secure it in the grommet,last said member being automatically disengageable upon expansion of theelastic cable.

10. In combination, an aircraft, a tow-line, an object towed by'saidaircraft, a second object to replace the first said object, means forslidably engaging said second object with the tow-line at said aircraftand permitting said second object to slide along the tow-line to engagethe first object, and means for automatically accomplishing thereplacement of the first object by the second object while both are atthat end of the tow-line remote from said aircraft.

11. In combination, an aircraft, a tow-line mounted thereon, a pin atthe free end of the tow-line, an object slidably along the tow-line andengageable on the pin, and a second object slidable along the tow-line,the second object freeing the first object from the pin and itselfassuming the place of the first object while the aircraft is in flight.

12. In combination, an aircraft, a tow-line, an object detachablycarried at the free end of the tow-line, and a second object replacingthe first object while the aircraft is in flight.

WILLIAM A. LAMKEY.

